Sandberg's speech to Phillies stresses respecting the game'

Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg watches his team during practice Thursday, in Clearwater, Fla. Sandberg, who is about to embark on is first full season as Phillies manager, addressed his team Tuesday to outline his expectations for the season. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Yes, he spoke to the team when he took over for fired manager Charlie Manuel last August. Yes, he has been interacting with players over the winter and after pitchers and catchers reported last week, with position players trickling in day by day.

However, he considered the chance to speak to everyone before the first full-squad workout at the Carpenter Complex an important moment.

“I wanted to get everybody on the same page as far as expectations, my philosophies on things and my definitions on things,” Sandberg said. “Respecting the game was one of the topics. I gave some examples. I laid things out there so there are no misunderstandings.

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“In a lot of ways, it felt like back in the day, an opening-day type of thing. There was anxiousness, good butterflies. I was excited to see everybody and actually get started with the process of molding the guys together as a unit.”

Sandberg had a busy schedule for his players, running the pitchers and infielders through situational fielding drills before live batting practice.

“That’s the normal workload for these days. It ran very well,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of standing around. The timing was good, the pitchers were hot. It was very well-run. We got a lot of work done.”

The most-watched player in workouts was Cuban right-hander Miguel Gonzalez, and the more the 27-year-old throws the less likely it seems he has any shot of starting the season on the Phillies’ pitching staff. As he did in his last bullpen session, Gonzalez struggled terribly with his control from the stretch while pitching to live batters. He skipped a wild cutter under Cody Asche’s feet and nearly hit the backstop with a high-and-outside offering, and a few other pitches thrown from the stretch weren’t close to the mitt.

“That’s rust,” pitching coach Bob McClure said.

“It was his first time doing that and it’s something he can learn from and build on,” Sandberg said of Gonzalez, who received a guaranteed $12 million big-league contract from the Phils. “Some of the hitters mentioned he was down in the zone pretty good and had some action on his changeup.”

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The three veteran pitchers who are of the most concern to the Phillies in this opening week of camp are staying on course.

Cole Hamels, who announced prior to camp that he was behind schedule due to offseason biceps tendinitis, said his first bullpen session from the mound is set for Tuesday. That would put him about 11 days behind the rest of the pitchers.

Reliever Mike Adams, who had both shoulder and sports hernia surgeries since being shut down in the middle of last season, threw pitches on flat ground for the first time Tuesday and was expected to do the same Friday. If all goes smoothly he expects to throw his first bullpen Feb. 27.

Just as Hamels said he didn’t expect to be ready for the start of the regular season, Adams thinks he won’t be ready until at least a week or two into April.

“I would love to be ready for Opening Day, but I’ve got to do what’s smartest for myself and smartest for the team,” Adams said. “I want to make sure I’m there for the long haul and not rush myself out there and do something that’s not smart. I’m thinking early- to mid-April might be more realistic.”

Finally, A.J. Burnett is scheduled to have his first bullpen session Wednesday morning, which means he’s only a handful of days behind the rest of the pitchers. That should allow the veteran to pitch at the end of the Grapefruit League pitching rotation against one of his former teams — either March 1 against the Yankees or March 2 against the Pirates.

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NOTES: Sandberg and McClure liked what they saw from right-hander Ethan Martin Tuesday, and it will be interesting to see what his role is to start the season. According to McClure, he will be stretched out to three or four innings this spring, then when the time comes to decide if he will be best served as a starter or reliever with either the Phils or Triple-A Lehigh Valley, he will either be stretched more or allowed to begin his bullpen career. Martin made eight shaky starts for the Phils before showing more competence in seven relief appearances to close last season. … Usually hitters do little swinging and instead track pitches during the first day of live batting practice, but the Phils’ hitters were rather aggressive taking hacks on Day 1 this year. “I agree with that,” Sandberg said. “I think some of that goes with stressing to the pitchers to pound the zone. … They had some pitches to hit. It was good to see the hitters (swinging). That might go with them being here for a few days and being ready for the challenge. So it shows they have done some work.”